The present invention relates to a common pressure vessel type Ni-H.sub.2 storage battery, such as may be used particularly in powering satellites, in which the thermal transfer properties between the individual battery cells of the cell stack and the walls of the pressure vessel of the battery are improved.
The earliest Ni-H.sub.2 batteries for satellite applications employed individual pressure vessels for each cell in the battery. However, to gain improvements in specific energy and energy density and to reduce the total weight and volume of the battery, the recent trend has been to incorporate multiple cells in a stack arrangement within a single pressure vessel. This type of Ni-H.sub.2 battery is termed in the art a common pressure vessel type battery. Examples of common pressure vessel type Ni-H.sub.2 batteries are described in the following publications: M. Earl et al., "Design and Development of an Aerospace CPV Ni/H.sub.2 Battery", 24th Intersociety Energy Conversion Engineering Conference, Washington, D.C., August 1989, Proc., Vol. 3, pp. 1395-1400; J. Dunlop et al., "Making Space Nickel/Hydrogen Batteries Light and Less Expensive", AIAA/DARPA Meeting on Lightweight Satellite Systems, Monterey, Calif., August 1987, NTIS No. N88-13530; G. Holleck, "Common Pressure Vessel Nickel-Hydrogen Battery Design", 15th Intersociety Energy Conversion Engineering Conference, Seattle, Wash., August 1980, Proc., Vol. 3, pp. 1908-1911; and E. Adler et al., "Design Considerations Related to Nickel Hydrogen Common Pressure Vessel Battery Modules", 21st Intersociety Energy conversion Engineering Conference, San Diego, Calif., August 1986, Proc., Vol. 3, pp. 1554-1559.
In Ni-H.sub.2 batteries, considerable waste heat is generated during both charge and discharge cycles. In the conventional common pressure vessel type Ni-H.sub.2 battery, the individual cells were generally disposed inside of an insulating carrier. The thermal path between the heat generating portions of the cells and the wall of the pressure vessel was lengthwise through the battery cell stack components and then through the hydrogen gas of the battery to the adjacent wall of the pressure vessel. As a result, the thermal resistance between the individual cells and the pressure vessel was high, resulting in undesirably large temperature increases within the battery.